Watch: Mobile Recycling Center Turns Soda Cans Into Trendy Stools

Designers Alex Groves and Azusa Murakami of Studio Swine created Can City, a mobile recycling facility that they haul through the streets of São Paulo, Brazil, producing furniture made from scavenged aluminum cans. Photo: Studio Swine

Can City applies the food truck ethos to industrial fabrication while addressing the serious problem of poverty in the city of São Paulo, Brazil. Groves and Murakami hope to provide the poorest citizens a path towards a better life as designers. Photo: Studio Swine

In São Paulo, recycling doesn't happen in tidy green bins, but rather through an informal network of independent waste collectors called "catadores" who scour the streets collecting cans and selling them as scrap. Photo: Studio Swine

Photo: Studio Swine

Can City doesn't require much in the way of capital. Basic tools and safety gear are within reach for most and the materials to produce the furniture are free. Photo: Studio Swine

It's not glamorous, but collecting cans provides the poorest citizens an alternative to the drug trade or prostitution and Groves and Murakami hope to help these collectors become designers. Photo: Studio Swine

Approximately 100 cans are required for each stool, which may sound like a lot, but scavenging after a football game can yield thousands. Photo: Studio Swine

Molds are fabricated by pressing found objects into slightly moist sand, scavenged from local construction sites, and are filled with molten aluminum. Photo: Studio Swine

The chairs take approximately 30 minutes to cool, though Groves has burnt himself a time or two by being overzealous about removing parts from the molds. Photo: Studio Swine

The stools are limited to the "Favela Chic" aesthetic and require significantly more aluminum than the thin wall extruded aluminum furniture found in showrooms. Photo: Studio Swine

Streets turn into ad hoc assembly lines and the result is a collection of trendy looking stools that are given to the locals who help scrounge up materials. Photo: Studio Swine

Can City chairs make use of solid waste, utilizes the skills of the local labor force, and could even claim to reduce carbon emissions by cutting out transportation which often creates more air pollution than the manufacturing. Photo: Studio Swine

The solid aluminum chairs can support a decent amount of weight, but haven't been stress tested. Photo: Studio Swine

"The great thing about São Paulo is the residents are very open and really engaged with what we were doing. Each time we fired up the furnace it was a real event and a crowd would gather to watch," says Groves. "People loved taking photos to post to Instagram and Facebook." Photo: Studio Swine

Can City is a physical embodiment of Studio Swine's mission to promote "Super Wide Interdisciplinary New Exploration." Photo: Studio Swine

The path is unclear, but Can City could give the catadores a way out of poverty if the financial model bears fruit. Photo: Studio Swine

Groves and Murakami hope to expand the program beyond São Paulo and into other produce categories. Photo: Studio Swine

Do you know what happens after you toss your Diet Coke can into the recycling bin? How many steps it takes before the cola container is reincarnated as a ladder, or if it lived a good life, an iMac? Designers Alex Groves and Azusa Murakami of Studio Swine wanted to illustrate what’s required in the reclamation process and created Can City, a mobile foundry/hackerspace that they haul through the streets of São Paulo, Brazil producing trendy metal stools along the way.

The contraption takes aluminum cans found in the streets and melts them in a crucible using vegetable oil waste collected from local cafes as fuel. Molds are fabricated by pressing found objects into slightly moist sand which are then filled with molten aluminum. Streets turn into ad hoc assembly lines and the result is a collection of trendy-looking stools that are given to the locals who help scrounge up the materials.

Can City applies the food truck ethos to industrial fabrication while addressing a serious problem facing the 20 million people that crowd the country’s largest city. In São Paulo, recycling doesn’t happen in tidy green bins, but rather through an informal network of independent waste collectors called catadores who scour the streets gathering cans to be sold as scrap metal. It’s not glamorous, but collecting trash provides the poorest citizens an alternative to the drug trade or prostitution and Groves and Murakami hope to help these scavengers become designers and manufacturers.

Stoking a 1,221°F furnace in the middle of a crowded street may not seem like the safest idea, but no one was hurt in the making of the stools. “In my experience things that look dangerous are the safest,” says Groves. “When the furnace is in use everyone has a very strong instinct to be cautious and avoid getting burnt.” In fact, the only burn sustained was suffered by Groves due to his overzealous desire to show off a cast piece that hadn’t had time to fully cool.

Each stool is a one-of-a-kind creation made with whatever materials happen to be available on the street. Steel rebar, palm leaves, and discarded baskets have all served as inspiration for the ersatz seats. Most designers strive to design a single, iconic chair, but Groves is excited by the potential of constant experimentation. “We could have come up with one design, but it didn’t make sense to be moving around to do that,” he says. “Conventional aluminum furniture is manufactured and highly industrialized so we were keen to use the material in a more expressive way.” It also gives catadores the freedom to create without requiring them to meet a perfect standard every time.

Studio Swine hopes to help scavengers become designers and manufacturers with their mobile metal processing tools. Photo: Studio Swine

“The great thing about São Paulo is the residents are very open and really engaged with what we were doing. Each time we fired up the furnace it was a real event and a crowd would gather to watch,” says Groves. “People loved taking photos to post to Instagram and Facebook.”

Can City isn’t yet a thriving social enterprise. Style wise, the stools are limited to Favela Chic and require significantly more aluminum than the thin wall extruded aluminum furniture found in showrooms. Funding comes in the form of corporate sponsorship from Heineken, not the sale of stools. Groves and Murakami see the stools as an experiment and plan to expand into other product categories that might provide a more solid and sustainable financial return.